Drier using warm air blast



Jan. EL W5@ E. c. SIEGGREEN DRIER USING WARM AIR BLAST 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed NOV. 13, 1945 gli? E. C. SIEGGREEN DRIER USING WARM AIR BLAST am, El, 39540 2 Sheets-Sheret 2 Filed Nov. 13, .1945

Patented Jan. 31, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE This invention relates to driers and particularly driers using a warm air blast as a drying medium, said invention being an improvement on the disclosure of my pending application, iiled August l, 1945, under Serial Number 608,130, now abandoned.

The present invention, in common with that of the identied application, is particularly suited (but not limited) to the delivery of heated air for drying the hands or face, a plurality of outlets being provided for selective use and for concurrent use, when desired. The feature of locating the outlets in a casing surmounting a hollow column is also common to the present and said earlier invention.

An object of the present invention is to simplify selective use of the several outlets by associating with each a motor-driven blower adapted for warm air delivery, the selective control thus involving merely the provision of suitable Switches for respectively closing the respective motor circuits.

Y Another object is to supply air to several blowers through a column surmounted by a casing housing the blowers and to dispose heating means for such air in advance of said blowers.

Another object is to minimize the distance from the blowers to the air outlets and thus minimize frictional resistance to the air flow by locating the-blowers in close proximity to said outlets, this also rendering the motors and blowers conveniently accessible for inspection and repairs.

Another object is to provide a heat insulated chamber wherein air is constantly kept at a temperature suited for drying use and to locate the blower-drivng motors exteriorly to said chamber where they will not be detrimentally affected by said temperature.

Another object is to locate said motors in a chamber heat insulated from said warm air chamber and to afford a motor-cooling circulation or" air through the first-mentioned chamber.

These and various other objects are attained by the construction hereinafter described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. l is a top plan view of my improved drier.

l Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the same.

Fig. 3 is an axial vertical sectional view of the drier, taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a horizontal sectional View taken on the line 4--4 of Fig. 3 and particularly showing the location of the blowers in the casing.

Fig. 5 is a sectional detail of a foot pedal controlled switch, taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 2.

6 Claims. (Cl. 34-243) Fig. 6 is a diagram of the electrical connections.

Fig. 7 is a sectional detail of one of the ho-t air outlets showing a valve controlling such outlet.

In these views, the reference character l des-V ignates the heat insulated wall of a hollow column 2 rigidly 4and centrally upstanding from a hollow base 3 and rigidly surmounted by a casing 4. Said parts may be formed of sheet metal, the illus-v trated column being of square cross section and the base and casing circular and of a diameter materially exceeding the column width. The casing is divided by a horizontal partition 5 into a lower chamber 6 and smaller upper chamber 1. The partition is heat-insulated as indicated at 8 and the peripheral wall of the chamber 6 has a heat insulating coating 9.

The peripheral wall of the chamber 6 mounts a plurality of equiangularly spaced air spouts or nozzles l0, rotatable as is common about their horizontal axes to control the direction of discharge. Flexible couplings Il connect these spouts to the outlets of blowers l2 corresponding in number to the spouts, and secured to and beneath the partition '5, and having downwardly opening inlets I3. Each blower is driven through a shaft i4 from an electric motor I5 disposed in the chamber 1. To cool said motors, air is admitted to the lower portion of the chamber 1 through slots formed by striking louvers I6 up from the peripheral wall of said chamber, and a grille l? formed in the dome top provides an outlet for such air.

Air supplied to the blowers rises through the column 2 from one or more screened inlets IB in the lower portion of said column. Such air is iadapted to be heated by a set of horizontally elongated electric heating elements I9 disposed in a row within the chamber 6 just above its.` juncture with the column. The heater formed by the elements I9 is connected by leads 20 to mains 2l under control of a switch 22 biased in any desired manner to its open position and adapted to be automatically closed by a thermostat responsive to a predetermined temperature drop in the warm air chamber jointly formed by the chamber 1 :and column `2. The switch 22 may have any convenient location, being shown within the column (Fig. 3). As a preferred means for automatically controlling said switch, a capillary tube 23 isv extended therefrom to a bulb 24 suitably located in the warm air chamber and shown (Fig. 3) within the column 2. Said tube and bulb are filled with a iiuid, such as mercury, having a high coefficient of cubical expansion, and mechanism' units formed by said switches and foot pedals are preferably located, as illustrated, in the base close to its supporting surface, the" pedals pro'- jecting outwardly from the base for easy access, and each of said units preferably being installed directly beneath the spout I' iron; which air Will j discharge upon actuation of such unit.

4 units being carried by said partition, the motors being disposed above and the blowers below the partition, a delivery connection from each blower to the corresponding outlet, means for individually starting and stopping said motors, individual closures for said delivery connections movable from normally closed positions to open positions by blower-induced pressure, and means for heating air in the course of its ilow from said inlet to the blowers.

2. A drier comprising a casing and a heat-in- .sulating partition dividing said casing into an upper and a lower chamber, the lower chamber having an air inlet substantially at its bottom, a

It is desirable to obstruct the outlets formed 'Y by the spouts l, during idle periods of the drier, thusifavoidin'g any gradual escape of heated air from the spouts due to convectional rise of the hot air body maintained within the drier. For this purpose an automatic disk-type valve member 2S is pivoted within the supporting collar 29 of each spout upon a pin 3l) extending horizontally across such collar a slight distance above its axis, as best appears in Fig. 7. Each member 28 is thus unbalanced and is subjected, when its corresponding blower is driven, to a greater pressure below than above its pivotal axis. Hence these valve members automatically open under operating .conditions and swing shut when relieved of blower-induced pressure. To limit opening travel of these'valves, a stop-forming bolt 3| projects upwardly within each collar 29, terminating adjacent the level of the pin 39, and such bolt may limit the associated valve member to a partial opening by screwing the bolt upward beyond the position illustrated. It is not intended, however, that the bolt 3l be adjusted, subsequent to final assembly of the drier.

In use of the described drier, the mechanism for operating the switch 22 is set to close such switch whenever the temperature in the lower portion of the column 2 drops below a desired value, as for example 150 degrees Fahrenheit. Thus 'energization of the heater is completely temperature-controlled and quite independent of the motor starting provision, radicallydiiering in this respect from prior driers of an air blast type other'. than that shown by my c'opending application. successive' uses of the drier, the heater circuit will be closed .as often as necessaryto assure substantial maintenance of a desired tempera ture within the-column. The air storage' capacity of the column and chamber is preferably such as to maintain a supply of heated air to at least one or two of the spouts during the interval rev quired to adequately heat the resistors i9'.

The adaptability of the described drier to concurrently serve a group of persons, saves the cost of installing several individual driers of the prior single spout type in locations where a single spout is inadequate. l i

'What I claim is: f 1. A drier comprising a hollow column having an air inlet in its lower portion,'a dome surmounting and communicating with said column and laterally projecting beyond the column and pe-Y ripherally formed with a plurality of air outlets, a partition extending substantially rhorizontally within vsaiddome above said outlets, a motorblower Aunit corresponding to 'eachoutleit said Regardless of the intervals betweenvv plurality of outlet nozzles laterally projecting from said casing, a plurality of blowers installed in the lower-chamber, deriving air from said inlet, air delivery ducts connecting the respective blowers to the respective outlet nozzles, means for heating the air delivered to said blowers, and motors respectively driving the respective blowers and installed in said upper chamber.

3. A drier as set forth in claim 2, the upper chamber having a provision for the circulation of air therethrough.

4. A drier as set forth in claim 2, the upper chamber having a plurality or" air inlets in the lower portion of its peripheral wall, and an air outlet from the upper chamber being formed in the top of said casing.

5. A drier comprising a hollow base, a hollow column upstanding from the base and having an air inlet, a casing surmounting said column, aV

plurality of air outlet nozzles exteriorly project# ing from said casing, means for heating airflow#- ing from saidinlet to said nozzles, a plurality of blowers in the casing, having their inlets com-v municating with the column, air delivery connections from the respective blowers to the respective nozzles, motors respectively driving the respective blowers, and switches respectively con--Y trolling the respective motors.

6. Inv a drier as set forth in claim 5, said switches being disposed said base, control elements for said switches exteriorly projecting from the base and each such element substantially.

REFERENCES CITED The fol-lowing references are of record in the ille oi this patent:

' UNITED sTArEs PATENTS 

